HRC RESPONDS TO BUDGET DEAL, URGES CONGRESS TO PROTECT DREAMERS: “While this budget agreement includes vital funding for health care, especially for people living with HIV and AIDS, we remain deeply concerned that millions of Dreamers are still at risk each day that Congress fails to protect them. Mitch McConnell must follow through on his promises and quickly allow a vote on the Dream Act in the Senate and Paul Ryan must do the same in the House,” said David Stacy, HRC Government Affairs Director. “More than one million Dreamers, including 75,000 LGBTQ young people, face uncertainty in the only country they’ve ever known. We will not rest until Congress protects them.” See the human face of LGBTQ Dreamers in thesevideosproduced by HRC.

VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES KILLS FOUR BILLS THAT WOULD HAVE ENSURED EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER LAW FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE: Said HRC National Field Director Marty Rouse: “Today’s action by Speaker Cox and other House Republican leadership is truly disgraceful and leaves thousands of LGBTQ Virginians at risk of discrimination. House Republican leaders are completely out of step with what voters made clear at the ballot box in November.” More from HRC and The Washington Post.

TRUMP-PENCE TO UNVEIL NEW DISCRIMINATORY TRANS MILITARY BAN ON FEB. 21 -- DOJ SAYS IT WILL DEFEND IN COURT: Said HRC National Press Secretary Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride): “There has already been extensive and thorough study of allowing transgender people to serve openly, a process which led the Pentagon two years ago to announce that the United States would join eighteen other nations that allow open trans service. There are currently thousands of transgender people serving in the U.S. military with many more enlisting and their skills and service are already proving invaluable to our national security. In their repeated attempts to implement and justify this cruel and unconstitutional policy, the Trump-Pence Administration has been the only source of disruption on this issue.” More from The Washington Blade and BuzzFeed.

THESE STATES ARE WORKING TO PROTECT YOUTH FROM THE ABUSIVE PRACTICE OF “CONVERSION THERAPY”: The New Hampshire House of Representatives took a bold stand to protect youth with HB 587. In Maryland, lawmakers introduced HB 902 and SB 1028 to ban the dangerous and debunked practice. More on New Hampshire and Maryland.

MORNING MUST READ -- TRUMP’S ANTI-LGBTQ JUDICIAL NOMINEES COULD HAVE LONG-LASTING EFFECTS: Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy at the National Center for Transgender Equality; and Kristine Lucius, executive vice president for policy at the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights; write: “Federal judges serve for life. President Trump and Republican Senate leaders are rushing to pack the courts with right-wing extremists who will restrict civil rights not just during the Trump administration, but for decades to come.” More from Advocate.

HRC MOURNS TONYA HARVEY, A TRANS WOMAN OF COLOR MURDERED IN NEW YORK: Police have so far not released any further details of the incident, but investigators have confirmed that they’re looking into the incident as a possible hate crime. Friends of Tonya have called her “so sweet and loving.” More from HRC and The Buffalo News.

"I knew her since I started transitioning, she was so sweet and loving." - @HRC mourns the loss of Tonya Harvey, a transgender woman who was fatally shot in New York earlier this week. #SayHerNamehttps://t.co/3k6ESrBs6G

NEW ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS STUDY SHOWS TRANS YOUTH HAVE BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES WHEN THEIR GENDER IDENTITY IS SUPPORTED: The study confirms that “transgender children who have socially transitioned and are well supported in their social environments have levels of depression that are similar to those of cisgender controls.” More from American Academy of Pediatrics.